The Gorkhas, who came from Nepal during British-occupied India in search of their livelihood and settled in and around Darjeeling, initiated the Gorkhaland movement in 1952 at the instigation of the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) under the leadership of Shrii Ratanlal Brahman, Ganesh Subba, Ananda Pathak and others, with the intention to create a communist base amongst the Gorkhas of Darjeeling.
In 1987 the Gorkhaland movement took a violent turn under the leadership of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader Shubhas Ghising, who destroyed many lives and several hundred crores of government property in Darjeeling. Since then, "Amra Bangali" has opposed the demand of Gorkhaland because it was a conspiracy to once again divide Bengal.
Despite the protests of “Amra Bangali,” the Congress-dominated government of India, CPI(M) led government of West Bengal and GNLF leader Shubhas Ghising signed a tripartite agreement for the formation of “Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC)” with three Hill Sub-Divisions: Kalimpong, Karsiang and Darjeeling. Since then, Amra Bangali has observed a protest day on the 22nd August each year in all districts, particularly in Kolkata and Siliguri. But since 2005, Amra Bangali is concentrating this movement in Siliguri and demanding cancellation of DGHC as well as the arrest and trial of Shubhas Ghising for his anti-national activities. The movement is gaining momentum and support amongst the Bengalis of Darjeeling District.
In spite of this, once again a tripartite agreement was signed on 6.12.2005 at New Delhi between the government of India, government of West Bengal and GNLF leader Subhas Ghising to give tribal status to the foreign Gorkhas who belong to a higher-caste Hindu community of Nepal, so as to include the DGHC under 6th Schedule (special privilege for tribal people as per Indian constitution). In addition, this agreement gave 16 more Maujas (consisting of several villages) of Siliguri Sub-Division as well as more power and rights to DGHC. This is illegal and unconstitutional. A successful general strike against the DGHC was observed in Darjeeling District at the call of Amra Bangali and was supported by Shiv Sena, Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee.
Moreover, Secretary of Amra Bangali Central Committee Shri Subodh Ranjan Mitra filed a PIL case on 5.10.2005 against these illegal and unconstitutional decisions of the government of India and government of West Bengal, which was heard on 16.12.2005 by the Hon’ble Justice A. Gangopadhyay, who stated that as the agreement has not yet been implemented, the PIL case is premature, and as and when the constitution was amended for implementing the agreement, at that time the PIL case would be heard.
A successful general strike was observed on 24.6.2006 in Darjeeling as well as other Districts of North Bengal called by Amra Bangali and Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee. It was further decided in meetings held on 24.6.2006 at Kolkata between Shri Buddhadeb Bhattachaerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal and Shri Shubhas Ghising, GNLF leader, that four more Maujas of Siliguri Sub-Division, namely, Sevak, Kalijhora, Nayabasti and Champasri Bananchal will be given to DGHC. Under the provisions of 6th Schedule of Constitution, the power of five government departments, namely water resources, mines and mining resources, archaeological antiquities and museum, amusement and social welfare as well as control of the Panchayats and municipalities of the hill areas will also be handed over to DGHC. Thus through the shameless surrender of the government of India and government of West Bengal to the undue and illegal demand of Shubhas Ghising, one after another the path towards establishing Gorkhaland is being widened.
As in previous years, processions, street corner meetings, Door to Door Contact (DDC), leafleting and postering were held from 8.8.06 to 21.8.06 at different places of Siliguri sub-Division so as to make the central rally and public meeting of Amra Bangali on 22.8.06 a grand success by raising the socio-political consciousness of the people. A big hall of Kanchan-Jangha Stadium was booked, and members and supporters came from myriad districts of West Bengal and Jharkhand.
On 22.8.06 at 11 AM a press conference addressed by Shri Subodh Ranjan Mitra, Secretary of Amra Bangali Central Committee, and Shri Sankar Gangopadhyay, Amra Bangali Assistant Secretary Central Committee, was held at Kanchana Jangha Stadium Hall. Reporters and photographers from print-media, including Bartaman, Sambad Pratidin, Daily Statesman as well as from electronic media including Amar Bangla and CNN covered the procession and the public meeting at the Court mor in downtown Siliguri.
At 1 pm a group of delegates under the leadership of Shri Jayanta Das, Amra Bangali Central Committee Organizing Secretary, and Shrii Sambhu Sutradhar, District Secretary of Darjeeling District Committee, gave a deputation to the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), Siliguri and submitted a memorandum to him addressed to the Governor of West Bengal, demanding cancellation of DGHC.
At 2 pm a grand, colourful procession of people carrying flags, festoons, placards led by around 100 volunteers of Bangali Bahini in uniform moved through different streets of Siliguri until reaching the stage at Court Mor at 4 pm. A grand public meeting was held there under the chairmanship of eminent social worker Shri Harinath Dey. Thousands of people attended the public meeting conducted by Shri Bikash Biswas, District Secretary, North 24 Parganas. Speakers were Shri Sambhu Sutradhar, District Secretary Darjeeling, Dalen Roy, Organizing Secretary, Coochbehar, Anil Baran Das, Organizing Secretary Howrah, Ramen Burman, District Committee member, Darjeeling, Khusi Ranjan Mondal, Organizing Secretary North Bengal, Subodh Burman, Central Committee member, Jayanta Das, Organizing Secretary Central Committee, Sankar Gangopadhyay, Assistant Secretary Central Committee and Subodh Ranjan Mitra, Secretary Central Committee. The latter stated that the Gorkhaland issue had cropped up at the instigation of the undivided Communist Party of India to create their party base amongst the Gorkhas, who had come from Nepal in search of their livelihood under British India and had settled in Darjeeling. After a violent movement and slaughter of many lives and several hundred crores of government property, Shubhas Ghising formed DGHC with three Hill Sub-Divisions, i.e., Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Karsiang. But Ghising was not satisfied with this. He wanted more areas, more power and more rights. To achieve this goal, the Gorkhas are now posing as a tribe by worshipping stones and monkeys instead of worshipping their traditional goddesses Durga, Kali and Lakshmi, which they usually worshipped in the past. Ghising’s worship of Goddess Durga with 18 hands in Darjeeling 2-3 years ago is well-known to all. Unfortunately, it was decided in the tripartite agreement between government of India, government of West Bengal and Shubhas Ghising to 6.12.04 in New Delhi to give tribal status to Gorkhas so as to include DGHC under 6th Schedule and to give 14 Maujas to Siliguri Sub-Division, which is fully illegal and unconstitutional, as the Gorkhas are not at a tribe; they belong to a higher-caste Hindu community in Nepal. Further it was decided in the tripartite meeting held on 24.06.06 at Darjeeling and on 3.7.06 at Kolkata between Shri Buddhadeb Bhattarcherjee and Sri Shubhas Ghising to give four more maujas of Siliguri Sub-Division and five government departments as well as control of panchayats and municipalities of Hill areas to DGHC. All Bengalis should unite and fight for the cancellation of DGHC. The recent protest received wide coverage in nine newspapers and three TV channels.
Amra Bangali (meaning "We are Bengalis") is the political party in West Bengal working to estabish a PROUT economy on the ground in that region. They work for economic and political democracy. The party works in West Bengal, Tripura, Bihar, Orissa, assam and Jharkhand - all Bengali-speaking areas. It works towards the following: (1) Restoration and development of Bengali language and culture; (2) Economic self-sufficiency; (3) Self-determination in the socio-political field; (4) Re-organization of the territory of Bengal with all like-minded people having respect for Bengali language and culture, and name this new geographical area as "Bangalistan." The Amra Bangali party is working for economic democracy based on spreading cooperatives. For this very reason, it faces direct opposition from the Communist Party in West Bengal. At present companies from outside Bengal come in and exploit the people economically. Furthermore, refugees occupy 200,000 jobs in the jute mills, leaving thousands of local Bengalis without jobs or means of survival. Millions of rupees leave Bengal annually. Nearly 70 percent of the land and homes of Kolkata are owned by non-Bengalis. Bengal's precious minerals such as iron and coal are sold to other states, and Bengal is forced to purchase such basic staples as oil and sugar from outside the state. These are only a few of the injustices which Amra Bangali highlights and aims to correct.
Posted by proutist-universal on September 28, 2006 2:49 AM
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |